Product category: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: ARM | Subject: PowerWise interface
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 9 October 2003
Open standard interface
for power management
The PowerWise interface (PWI) is a novel technology jointly promoted by National Semiconductor and ARM as an open standard interface for system power management
PWI technology enables rapid deployment of advanced power management solutions in handheld electronic devices by providing an open, industry-wide standard for the interconnect between digital processors and power management integrated circuits. Today's portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, handheld gaming consoles and portable media players offer a host of new benefits for consumers.
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 9 October 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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However, these benefits place a significant strain on the power budget.
Designers now face the dilemma of having to reduce the power consumption of digital processors while simultaneously maximising battery life.
This dilemma has led to the development of more advanced power management solutions that dynamically reduce power consumption based on the application software workload and environmental conditions.
PWI technology provides the hardware interconnect standard for universal deployment of such solutions.
"PWI technology represents National's commitment to provide the most innovative and advanced power management solutions to the portable electronics market", said Peter Henry, Vice President of Portable Power Systems, National Semiconductor.
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"The adoption of an industry standard for system power solutions will propel the continued growth of the mobile phone and handheld markets".
Leaders in the mobile industry have welcomed the move toward standardisation.
"Intel recognises the importance of energy management in cellular systems and endorses open industry standards.
National's PWI is complementary to Intel's Wireless SpeedStep technology - together they can lead to significant reductions in power consumption for cellular and handheld products", said Duane Mills, Senior Principal Engineer in Intel's PCA Components Group.
"Samsung applauds the efforts of National Semiconductor and ARM in releasing the PowerWise Interface open standard", said HS Seo, Senior Engineer of Mobile Communication Division in Samsung Electronics.
"PWI technology is a cutting-edge power management solution and we expect the PWI specification to offer great savings in battery life".
"PWI technology is the result of collaboration between ARM and National Semiconductor and includes significant contributions from key mobile phone, semiconductor and power management IC vendors across the industry.
PWI reflects our continued commitment to provide the most advanced power management technologies and solutions", said Oliver Gunasekara, Director of Wireless, ARM.
"The development of a common interface is an important step in simplifying the design process and will significantly accelerate the deployment and adoption of innovative power management technologies".
The PowerWise interface specification defines a two-wire serial interface connecting the integrated power controller of an SoC processor system with a PMIC (power management integrated circuit) voltage regulation system that enables system designers to dynamically adjust the supply and threshold voltages on digital processors.
The PWI specification defines the required functionality in the PWI-slave: the operating states, the physical interface, the register set, the command set, and the datacommunication protocol for messaging between the PWI-master and the PWI-slave.
The PWI command set includes PMIC operating state control, register read, register write and voltage adjust commands.
The specification additionally provides provision for user-defined registers in the PWI-slave.
The PWI specification is available immediately from National Semiconductor and ARM for adoption on a royalty-free and licence-free basis.
Companies interested in adopting the specification can do so by submitting an adopter's agreement.
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